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Eagles Offseason Storylines Heading Into The 2023 Season (PST Episode 519) · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

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All right, everybody, you're listening to the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show,
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the longest running weekly Philie sports podcast show in the world, over ten years
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strong. It is June twenty first, twenty twenty three. I'm Jeff Warren.
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I'm here with my good buddy Len Hunt Sicker, Len Man. Hey
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doing buddy, How are things going for you? Hey feeling I'm I'm doing
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good. Um. You know, we're we're we're in the middle of draft
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season right now. You know, you know when we talk about drafts,
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you know, we talk about you know, usually you think of the NFL
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draft, but you know, we're getting into the time me of the year
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where you've got, you know, the NHL Draft, you've got the Major
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League Baseball Draft and something that we're all probably forgetting about because the Sixers have
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zero picks. The NBA Draft is tomorrow night, exactly. Nobody's talking about
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it because it's I mean, that is right now. Unless they make a
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trade to get into the draft. It's irrelevant to to Sixers fans everywhere,
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which you know, I don't know, like I it kind of stats,
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to be honest with you, you know what I mean, it's a double
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edged sword because if you're not worried about the draft, that means chances are
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you're you're in full content mode. M And then when you are fully invested
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in the draft, it's because your team sucks. Yeah, so you know
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it's kind of picked your poison. But there is a small part of me,
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especially after the last season that we had, um, that is kind
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of like, man, I kind of wish that I kind of missed that
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like Christmas morning feeling that you have leading up to the NBA drafts, because
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I just and we talked and this is going to say way into the Flyers.
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We talked about this briefly, um, you know, before the show.
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Just like right now in terms of excitement, you know, I'm so
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much more excited about the Flyers than I am the Sixers because it's just like,
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Okay, if they lose Harden, that sucks, and if they bring
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them back, it's just like it just feels like unless they do some wild
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moves and bring back a completely different team, it feels like we're just kind
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of a repeat last year. And I just feel like with basketball, nobody's
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gonna care about the regular season. Yeah, like at all that playoffs,
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Yeah, was such a turn that they that they laid down that nobody's gonna
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care into the playoffs and that's when. Okay, now now we're paying attention.
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I mean, unless they make some crazy move that really piques interest.
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I just there's no juice to me for the Sixers right now. I'm completely
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with you. And that's why, even though there's the rumors that are abound
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about Daryl Morey potentially making some sort of trade so that they can get a
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pick, honestly, I kind of don't care in a way. Yeah,
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even if they even if he does do that, and even if he gets
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a second round pick, honestly, in the end, what's it really gonna
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matter, because yeah, we're in purgatory. We are in six Ers purgatory
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right now. No matter what type of moves are made. Unless Tyrese Maxie
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somehow is traded and what could happen, or God forbid, Joel Embiid is
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traded, what would happen to this team? We are in purgatory, man,
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Yeah, I mean it's it's it's purgatory, but it's playoff purgatory because
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you know, I feel like you know, I'm not I'm not saying they're
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one of these teams that's you know, like dead middle of the league that
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is either is on the bubble for the playoffs but not bad enough to to
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um, you know, get a high pick. That to me is purgatory.
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But yeah, I get what you mean in terms of that. And
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it's weird because you know, the Flyers, as bad as they are and
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as bad as they're going to be this coming season and as bad as they're
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probably going to be the season after that, there's new there's a new front
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office. There's trades that are being made, There's there's two first round picks
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coming up at least if they don't do stuff before the draft. And there's
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a lot of rumors going around about connect me, about Carter Hart. So
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there's just a lot of juice and it feels like there's a lot of news
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in Flyers Land and that just makes it more interesting to me. Right now,
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Well, let's get let's get into some of this Flyers talk and how
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we're feeling here, Len, because I'm excited. I cannot believe it.
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If you if you asked me back in January, February March, how do
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I feel about the Philadelphia Flyers, I would have said I could not care
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less about this team and what happens to them. You fast forward a few
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months here there is a new front office, a new general manager, a
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new president, there is new leadership. There seems to be some sort of
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direction. Danny Brier made an incredible trade which we dissected on this show,
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and we know it's been dissected in other areas of the Philly sports media world.
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And it was a fantastic trade and it was amazing hope for exactly potential
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trades that they could do within the next week leading up to the draft.
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I'm excited you You've seen what Danny Briare can do as a GM. Now
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you're like, oh, I kind of want more UM and I'm excited.
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I am. I am legitimately excited for this Flyers draft here, buddy.
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And that's and that's the weird thing is when you have a team that's bad
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UM and and the possibilities of you know, there's really nowhere to go put
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up um. You know, you you don't really care about the regular season,
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but once you get to that offseason and that there's fun in team building
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for bad teams, especially with a new front office right there, because because
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there's there's so much to dream on and and that's where we are with the
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Flyers right now. Look in the in the Ivan Provorov trade, they ended
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up getting a talent Swedish defenceman h again they acquired in that trade. I
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think he was drafted in like twoy twenty or so. He's been playing the
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last two seasons in the AHL for the Ontario Rain And I'm going to screw
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up his name because that's what I do. But it's it's Hell held Gronze.
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Hell Gronze, I think is his name. Like, I am excited
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to see what we're gonna be talking about him on the upcoming table talk show
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that's going to be dropping um Sunday, I believe it's gonna be Sunday,
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possibly Monday, folks, just to let you know those that listen to the
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table talk show. But we're gonna be getting into him a little bit more
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as one of these prospects potentially in the pipeline, because that's what matters here,
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you know. It's it's like you said, Lynn, it's what happens
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not just this year, but even next year that's going to accelerate this team
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in the future. Like the Hope is here. You know, we're not
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going to see immediate results, folks, and we know that we're not going
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to see immediate results, but we are going to start seeing the foundations for
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the future. And that's exciting. Yeah, And it seems like there's a
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lot of that on the blue line with the Flyers. I mean you have
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Ken York, who you know, stepped in and had a good first impression
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this year. And then you've got the prospects. You've got you know,
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Um Gronds as you mentioned, ye, You've got um Zamola and addered Um,
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you know, emil Andre, like you you've got guys like that that
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you know, Okay, where are they going to slide in as defenseman?
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Maybe with the seventh pick, you know, maybe they end up with Rheinbacher
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or another defenseman in the draft who knows, but um, but yeah,
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like it feels like there's there's you know, guys there that are coming up
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that you know aren't because they're not finished products yet, like a pro rob
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or maybe even a Sandheim where you're like, Okay, this is who he
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is. You know, you can dream on him a little bit exactly,
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I say, Mitch Cove, Mitch CoV Mitch, Oh god, yeah,
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I mean, let's get him here. And that's the thing, Like I'm
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excited about the NHL draft, but like I feel like I'm setting myself up
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for a fall behind. He's there, yeah, and they don't take him,
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I'm just gonna be so annoyed. And if he's there and they do
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take him and Russia completely screws all of us, just doesn't let him come
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over here because of what's happening in the world, that's another kick in the
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nuts. There's a lot there's a lot of stuff that could happen here.
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Yeah, And even if even if they they do take him and none of
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that bad stuff happens because of his contract with his cage club. I mean,
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he's still two or three seasons away. So regardless, you strip away
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all the you know, geopolitical concerns, and it's still he's not gonna be
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over for two years anyway. So you know, it's not like you're you're
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draft and it's the thing, he's one of the guys in this draft that
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want talent alone. He could play in the NHL next year, Yes,
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it's just you know, he's obviously not going to because of the situation.
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Maybe he can just maybe he can just like run over the border, you
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know, escape. Well, you know when when when you when you have
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to worry about things like, oh, is putin gonna kill my whole family?
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You know if I do something like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
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it's kind of hard something to consider. Yeah, yeah, all right,
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let us know what you're thinking about this Flyer draft. We'd love to
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hear from you, Philadelphia Sports Table at gmail dot com. We'd love to
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read your email here on the show, respond to it, or if you
8:52
don't even want your email right on the show, shoot us off an email,
8:54
and uh, let us know how you are if you're excited about this
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draft. So, Len, we're gonna quick break here, folks. We're
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gonna take a quick break, pay some bills. We'll be back in just
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a bit. All right, we are back. Len. I was down
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at Tuesday's game Philly's Braves, and it was a what a fantastic evening in
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terms of ambiance, just in terms of the temperature outside. It was a
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great night to watch baseball. I was there with my wife. As I
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mentioned, it was a birthday gift that she got for me, and it
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was just her and I too, the in laws had the twins. It
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was just a fantastic evening. I was eating a cheese steak, which I
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don't eat very often anymore, as I've I've lost some weight, you know,
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this year, and I don't tend to eat like that. But my
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god, the cheese steak was good. Len Len, I miss eating cheese
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steaks on regular occasions. When you don't have something like that for a while,
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I would imagine the first time back is just like, holy hell.
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I was like, you know something that you your your taste buds have kind
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of maybe lost it a little bit, and then when it comes back,
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it's like like just being dropped, you know, on a new planet.
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They're just like, what the hell is happening here? Yes, I don't
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know exactly exactly. But while the while the ambiance was great, it was
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great actually being a Citizens Bank Park, it was great being there with my
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wife, would enjoying the game, enjoying the crowd, those sitting near us,
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you know, getting to know some people, just having a good time.
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But the Philadelphia Phillies do well, We're not good. They were not
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good. It was a four to two game, first game of the series
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against the Braves, who, as of us recording this of won seven games
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in a row. My gods, they just seemed unstoppable. We'll see what
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happens during the postseason. However, Lenn, it's interesting where this team is
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at right now, having a very hot June month. Certain guys really catching
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catching that spark. And of course, yes, we didn't see it during
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that first game against the Braves, and I didn't see it there at Citizens
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Bank Park. In fact, there are some questionable decisions in terms of bullpen
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usage by Holy freaking cal Rob Thompson. My god, seeing Jeff Hoffman out
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there. I'm sitting there it was what sixth inning or so, and I'm
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like, like, wait a minute, they got they brought in Jeff Hawton,
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Like first off, they called him down from or they called him up
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i should say, from Lehigh Valley, and I'm thinking, why the hell
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is he out here right now? And he just crapped the bed as it
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was a one to one game, and I'm thinking to myself, boy,
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Thompson did not do the best job here in terms of his managing the bull
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Yeah, well, the little boy in like usage like the guys, you
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know, and I don't have the you know, the track in front of
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me of who pitched when in the days leading up to that, was he
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maybe the only fresh arm that that Thompson had, the only option they had
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the day art prior they had Monday then never mind, Yeah, they had
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Monday off. And that that's what was so perplexing about this entire situation that
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I think could have been avoided. And there were just some screw ups,
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you know, JT real Muto trying to get to second base when he should
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have stayed on first in a critical moment in the game. Just other guys
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from an offensive perspective floundering. My wife was just getting completely bothered by the
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fact that she wasn't seeing offense from the Phillies. And I was trying to
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say, I'm like, listen, hun, it's a defensive game. It's
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a pitching game. Here. It's nice to see and she's like, I
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want to see home runs, I want to see RBIs and stuff, which
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I thought was pretty cute. Well, I mean, that's that's why the
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Major League Baseball put in those rules that they put in the absolutely for exactly
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that reason. Yep. And I think the rules have been great for the
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game. Thus far this season. But in terms of this Philadelphia Phillies team,
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len like there's it's interesting how I read an article in The Athletic about
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Bryce Harper recently. Matt Gelb from The Athletic wrote this and penn this piece
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where he was talking about the fact that Bryce Harper is seeing fewer fastballs this
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year than he ever has in his career, a lot more curveballs, and
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it's probably one of the reasons why he's gone twenty one games without a home
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run. It's the third longest streak of his career. And we're seeing pitchers
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acting and throwing different lead to Bryce Harper. And yes, while his numbers
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he's currently right now, I think batting like three oh one or something.
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If i'm if I'm not mistakes, Yeah, yeah, you know, he
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his numbers look pretty good. However, what the team needs from him at
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this moment isn't necessarily there, and I think it's an interesting part of the
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season. Yes, he's coming back from an injury quicker than anybody has come
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back from an injury like that, But I think we need to be patient
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with him. I know I need to be patient with with Bryce Harper a
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little bit more even given where his numbers are at, I still feel like
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I need to be patient with him. I don't know, what are your
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thoughts about Harper, where he's at right now, what he's given the team,
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not given the team. What are your thoughts, buddy? I think
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it's reasonable too, you know, uh, have patience only because you know,
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this is a guy that came back ridiculously early from Tommy John, which
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is you know, I know he's not a pitcher um, and I know
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that he can hit, you know, with with this you know, rehab
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and that kind of stuff. But still, you know, it is he
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you know, is he may be able to do some things that you know
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that are not able to do, some things that he could do if he
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was one hundred percent get to some pitches that he could get to if he
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was one hundred percent, that could very well be and and teams probably know
14:13
that and are exploiting it, and that's why they're pitching him the way they
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are would be my guests. So you know, this is a whole process
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of him eventually getting stronger and eventually getting better, and that's not going to
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happen, you know, overnight. This is a guy that rushed back he
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did, and and I'm I love him for it. I love you know
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that that sense of obligation that he feels, and you know that that leadership
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you know, Mantle, that he's he's taken for this team. But you
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know, you can't expect a guy that's still kind of recovering, I think,
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to come back and be you know, the guy he was before.
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It's going to take some time. He will come around. And you know,
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that's that's baseball. It's a game of adjustments. They are they're giving
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him junk, They're throwing him junk. Now he has got to learn to
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adjust to that junk and show the pitchers, hey, I'm gonna hit this,
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and then they'll have to try something else. And until he does do
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that, then they're gonna keep doing what they're doing. Yeah. It's just
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that's as old as the game is, you know. That's that's what this
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has been, this dance between you know, hitters and pitchers. I thought
15:20
this first game against the Braves, the one that I was specifically at,
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was so important and so critical at this particular juncture of the season, especially
15:28
as the uh, you know, the Braves are you know, I do
15:33
want to say they're unstoppable by any stretch. But you'll look at a team
15:37
that it's they've got forty seven wins twenty six losses, and as I mentioned
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earlier, a seven game win streak. They're not stopping anytime soon. But
15:46
the fact of the matter was they were able to really just take it to
15:48
him in that first game. Yes, uh, here on Wednesday when we're
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recording this, it's there's a rain delay right now. Who knows what's going
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to happen with this game tonight. But I just think this is an import
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series given how this team has performed really, really well. There's certain folks
16:04
also len that are calling for after Tuesday's game for you know, man man
16:10
man Fred. I'm thinking of Rob manfred job. Yes, yes, and
16:15
then again I'm always calling for his job. But Rob Thompson, like people
16:18
are saying that he's he's the worst manager in Major League Baseball. I wouldn't
16:23
go that far. Somebody was tweeting that at us this past week, and
16:26
I was like, I'm like, really, you can't give me that's just
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you know, overreaction. Yeah. Yeah, but but I will say,
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you know, so, okay, they lost the Braves, um, you
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know, in the first game. Prior to that, they had a nice
16:38
street going. Um, you know, I think seven six or seven games.
16:42
And then even before that, like you know, you look at their
16:45
series versus Detroit, um where they you know, they won um, you
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know, three uh all three games. You know, the Dodgers, who
16:53
are you know, traditionally, you know, one of the best teams in
16:56
baseball. They took two out of three from them. They took three out
16:59
of four from Arizona. Who's who's a decent team this year? And then
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the A's you know, you expect them because the A's are just you know,
17:06
such a situation. I mean, god, you know, it's just
17:10
you know, their their ownership isn't even trying, um, so you expect
17:15
to sweep them. But you know, they had built up an ice truck
17:18
record. Now before that, you know, they were floundering, and I
17:21
did see you know on Twitter, you know that thing of like, oh
17:23
man, are we're gonna have to fire a manager in mid season again?
17:26
And literally you know what not even you know, eight months ago. Yeah,
17:32
he was Philly rob and you know, you know, taking us to
17:34
the World Series. It's just like, man, how quick all that changes?
17:37
Yeah, exactly. Look it was. It's a slow start for this
17:41
team all the time, you know, it just is it does feel like
17:45
that. My god, it year after year after year. And I'm not
17:49
saying this team is going to get back to the World Series by any stretch
17:52
of the imagination. But the All Star break is right around the corner.
17:56
Trade deadline is right around the corner. Len, Do I think this team
17:59
is going to make a huge splash in terms of pitching or any other type
18:02
of talent that they can acquire. No, not necessarily. Are they going
18:07
to be buyers? Absolutely, I believe they're gonna do something. They're gonna
18:10
have to b that staff, absolutely, and then the bullpen in know they
18:14
will. They will trade for pitching, There's no doubt. There's no doubt
18:17
they will. Is it going to be a huge, huge acquisition. No,
18:21
I don't think so, because I think, as we've talked about on
18:22
the Opposition Territory podcast is past week with our our friend Chris willis Um from
18:29
down at you know the Braves Espnation site, like every team in the NL
18:33
East except for the Nationals are probably going to be buying at some point because
18:38
there is there's still so many contenders, especially in the NL at this point,
18:42
len like, people are gonna be buying, but there's only so much
18:45
pitching talent that's going to be available for teams, you know. Yeah.
18:48
I mean the Mets as long as Steve Cohen's their owner and they're hovering around
18:52
and they're six games under five hundred, I get that. Um, but
18:56
you know, if they're within any shot, he's going to do you know
19:00
what he does. Um. Atlanta is obviously they're Atlanta. It just you
19:06
know, I hate them, but yet I really begrudgingly admire that front office.
19:12
It's just it's a team that you know, anybody would be proud to
19:17
root for, a team that's run the way that that team is run.
19:19
Yeah, it's it's just honest to look at him from Afar and you're like,
19:22
man, that is a well run organization, and man, I wish
19:26
my team was run like that. I just felt like that. It feels
19:30
like for decades with that with that team. And then Miami, I mean,
19:33
is surprising and look at them, they're nine games that nobody saw that
19:38
coming at all. I mean, the Pirates, what they did early this
19:41
season. They've been faltering, of course, but the Pirates and the Marlins.
19:45
They've really been the two ball clubs that have been surprising this two surprise
19:49
teams here. Yeah, absolutely, all right, Well, let us know
19:52
what you're thinking about the Phillies Philadelphia Sports tableagmail dot com. We'd love to
19:56
read your email. We'd love to talk about it here on the pod cast.
20:00
Respond to it again, Philadelphia Sports tablogmail dot com. Len, let's
20:04
move on to the next topic that we wanted to get into. Because you're
20:08
on the show now, we're gonna be talking a little soccer, you know,
20:11
as as we have been every now and again. So it's it's so
20:17
interesting to read and follow what has happened with Lionel Messi. We know he's
20:22
going to be heading to Major League Soccer, and I loved the article.
20:26
There was an article in Axios. Yes, I read Axios and I actually
20:30
get their newsletters every morning. But tickets to see Lionel Messi's debut next month
20:37
at Inner Miami, they're going for about an average of twenty six hundred dollars,
20:44
yes, two thousand, six hundred dollars on seat geek, and more
20:49
than Taylor Swift concert. By the way, a Taylor Swift concert was around
20:55
or as much as I should say Taylor Swift concert last Friday in Pittsburgh two
21:00
thousand, six hundred and twenty five dollars listen cost to a last minute ticket
21:04
to see Taylor Swift and Lionel Messi is right in the mix there with Taylor
21:07
Swift. Man. This is interesting to think about what he is going to
21:11
be able to do for Major League soccer here in the United States. Len,
21:15
I think it's a it's an interesting aspect. It's interesting for us to
21:21
talk about it here on this podcast since we don't normally talk about soccer and
21:23
haven't for ten years. Now we are. But what's interesting is Inner Miami.
21:29
They're gonna be traveling to Philadelphia to face the Union in just a couple
21:33
of days. And what's interesting is like if that game is actually sold out
21:38
with him not even playing yet, because I think I'm not sure if it
21:42
is sold out, but I think it's close to being sold out. Like,
21:45
imagine what happens when Messi actually walks out onto the pitch wearing an Inner
21:51
Miami shirt, You know what I mean. There's certain symbolism of that as
21:56
well. And I just the arrival of arguably the best player in the world
22:00
playing soccer and for the last fifteen years. The fact that he's going to
22:04
be in the US, how's it going to impact Miami, How's it going
22:07
to impact Florida? How is it going to impact the game of soccer in
22:11
the United States. It's it's fascinating to think what it can do. Yeah,
22:15
I mean, and that's you know, this is the this is the
22:18
you know, the best player in the world for the like you said,
22:22
the past fifteen years. And and then okay, he's thirty five. But
22:26
you know, this isn't a guy that you know is in like the final
22:29
year of his career and he's clearly lost about you know, five steps.
22:33
You know that that's not you know him. He's still producing at a high
22:37
level. I mean, he just led his his country to you know,
22:41
the biggest tournament in the world, the World Cup. I mean, you
22:44
know, so this isn't a guy that you know is clearly on the down
22:48
slide here. This is a guy that that you know. It'll be interesting
22:51
because you know, this isn't the best league in the world. It's you
22:52
know, depending on who you talk to, maybe it's a tenth best league.
22:57
In the world. So is a player of that stature, does he
23:02
come in and just make a mockery of the league? Does he immediately come
23:04
in and light it up? Um? What kind of one thing that I'm
23:08
super interested in looking at for this um, this particular player and this particular
23:15
team is that you know, Inter Miami is pretty much dead last in the
23:18
East. Yeah. Yeah, So how much does the best player in the
23:23
world, or or you know, you know, one of the top three
23:26
players in the world, you at least give him that still, Um,
23:30
if he's not the best, he's in the conversation, So, what does
23:34
adding that guy to the worst team in the conference? How does that immediately
23:41
elevate them? Does it immediately like it can? Can his star power elevate
23:47
that team that much? Or is it? You know it? Soccer to
23:49
me is still such a team game that you know, maybe there's only so
23:53
much his presence can do there. You know, I don't think they're immediately
23:57
just going to start beating everybody because they have Messy I mean there, you
24:00
know, he's gonna they're they're gonna have to game plan for him and and
24:06
you know, uh figure out ways to you know, control him and dare
24:10
everybody else on that team to beat him? Um to beat them? But
24:14
you know that, that to me is just a super interesting storyline to follow.
24:18
How much a guy like that can elevate a team like that that that's
24:22
in that spot in the league. It's it's interesting how you mentioned Lenn How
24:26
you know he could he probably could have gone to another league just about any
24:30
anywhere in the world, right he Yeah, I mean he had options.
24:33
I mean one of them was like Saudi Arabia, which that league is that
24:37
proceidious, but you know, Saudi Arabia, they the folks over there,
24:42
that the people that are trying to buy entertainment over there, and said,
24:47
get Saudi Arabia recognizes, Hey, this is a place you want to come,
24:51
and this is a legitimate you know, oh forget all the human rights
24:53
violations. This is a legitimate place where you want to come. They have
24:57
endless reservoir of money, endless I mean, they can just keep throwing money
25:03
at you. So the fact that they couldn't land Messi is surprising to me.
25:07
Well, I think I thought he would end up there, but yeah,
25:11
he had options. He definitely had options, and there's a lot of
25:14
money options out there too, like not just Saudi Arabia. I think it's
25:17
interesting one of the reasons why he did choose to come to Major League Soccer
25:19
here in the United States to play for Miami. And of course, as
25:22
we know that that his arrival to enter Miami, they're partly owned by David
25:30
Beckham, you know. And I think what's interesting is the deal that they
25:36
have with Apple's Major League Soccer package. He's getting some of that sweet Apple
25:41
money exactly. One of the aspects of this contract, I guess, involves
25:45
a percentage of the revenue generated from new subscribers to Apple's MLS package. And
25:52
also, if I'm not mistaken, as well, similar to David Beckham,
25:59
you know, when he joined them LS back in two thousand and seven,
26:00
Messi is rumored to be granted the opportunity to own a new Major League franchise
26:06
or a new Major League Soccer franchise in the future, which would be able
26:10
to he'd be able man, he'd be able to extend his involvement in the
26:12
league beyond his playing career. And I could see that as being the impetus
26:18
for him wanting to come over here, because yeah, it deals with the
26:23
money but yeah, yeah, when you're not one of the top leagues in
26:27
the world and the NMLS isn't at this point, you know, they're well
26:32
behind probably at least you know, six or seven European leagues at minimum.
26:37
Um. You know, you have to it's not just about money. You
26:41
have to throw ownership and you have to throw you know, parts of a
26:44
TV pack like you have to really, i mean, just make that deal.
26:49
It's it's about so much more than money right at that point. Yes,
26:52
it's about legacy and I think that's why he decided to come to MLS
26:56
because in terms of his legacy, he's probably what David Beckham has done in
27:02
line. I'd love to talk about this another time. It's a conversation for
27:03
another time. When you look at what David Beckham has done in the world
27:07
of soccer in terms of his deals over the over the years, he's right
27:11
up there with Michael Jordan. It's just in terms of you know, when
27:15
Michael Jordan penned that deal and contract with Nike arguably the best sports contract ever
27:21
ever. But David Beckham could be at close second, right up there,
27:23
maybe like a one bee with Jordan in terms of what he's done. I'd
27:27
love to talk to you about that at some point down the road. But
27:30
but MESSI wants to be in that conversation, you know what I mean.
27:33
MESSI wants to be in that realm with those guys. He should be.
27:36
Yeah, he absolutely, he's he's you know, you know, we were
27:40
here in America and you know, you kind of just get in that bubble.
27:45
But you know the rest of the world, man, this is this
27:47
is probably one of the most recognizable human beings, Yeah, walking the planet.
27:51
And that's, you know, an amazing statement to make about anybody,
27:55
but he legitimately is it's amazing. Yeah, I'm just I'm so because you
28:00
know they are they're slaving his debut for July twenty first, and I not
28:06
not even to go to the game, but I do wish he was coming
28:07
to Philadelphia, like after he was debuting, so you would play, because
28:11
I would love to just go and and on StubHub and see in Philadelphia,
28:17
like what those tickets are going. Could could I potentially at least sniff being
28:22
able to get into that And I don't, I honestly don't think And that's
28:26
gonna and that's that's why you bring a guy like that in because that's gonna
28:29
be like that in every single stadium home in a way he goes to,
28:33
those tickets are gonna be outrageous to get. That's what he's gonna do in
28:37
Major league soccer, folks. Great conversation, great discussion, Len, Buddy,
28:41
I'm gonna let you go. I know you got to get some sleep
28:44
before you go into work in a few hours here right, yep. The
28:47
alarm goes off in about four and a half hours. It's gonna be awesome,
28:51
right, buddy, any last thoughts before let you go before you head
28:55
out? Um uh ooh god. I don't know, Daryl, where you
29:00
do something interesting? I don't know. Give me, give me a reason
29:03
to tune in tomorrow night outside of like the top, you know, maybe
29:07
five picks of this draft before you know, I don't know, I don't
29:11
know. Give me something, and Danny Brier, make more trades, make
29:15
more trades, get more assets, Danny. All right, Lenn, I'll
29:18
let you go. Follow Len on Twitter at Len Hunt Sicker and we are
29:22
going to take a quick break to play some bills. We'll be back in
29:25
just a bit, all right, folks, We are back. We are
29:29
now going to get to what we were thrown down on the table this week.
29:32
Before we started the show, I didn't I didn't mention that we were
29:36
going to have one of our good friends, EDG. Crats from SI on
29:40
to talk about this Eagles offseason and some storylines that we've been following. So
29:45
let's get to the discussion with Ed now again fantastic friend of the show.
29:48
It's what we're thrown down on the table and now on the table. It
29:56
is that time of the year when we start looking to the Philip Sophia Eagles
30:00
upcoming season, and this upcoming season is going to be interesting for sure.
30:04
We're following a lot of off season storylines and to get into those storylines with
30:10
us this week on the show. Is one of our good friends of the
30:12
podcast. It is great to have him back on the publisher of Eagles Today
30:17
for Fan Nation over at SI. You can find him on Twitter at krats
30:21
e He is a fantastic individual and again good friend of the podcast. Mister
30:25
Ed Krats. How you doing, Ed? Hey, I'm doing great.
30:27
Jeff Summers here, Yes, a big vacation time of year. I love
30:32
summer and kind of a down period now with the Eagles. I'm trying to
30:36
smoking for as long as I can here till camp opens at the end of
30:38
July. Yes, happy summer to you, Ed. And I have to
30:44
say, I really wanted to bring you on board this week because you've written
30:47
some really great stuff about this Eagles team. And I can imagine, you
30:51
know, being one of the longest tenured beat reporters for the Philadelphia Eagles,
30:56
you know that does report on this team, the offseason probably does get a
30:59
little old, tedious and monotonous when you're trying to figure out what am I
31:02
going to write about? But you've been writing some really great stuff. But
31:04
I imagine, like you said, you know, it's like we said,
31:07
it's the calm before the storm basically, you know, and I don't know,
31:11
it's you got to enjoy this time before the season gets crazy. Yeah,
31:15
you know, you try to, but you're right as far as you
31:18
know coming up with content ideas, you know, it's a real manufacturing process.
31:22
You have to think of something to write about. But you know,
31:26
there seems to be plenty to write about with Philadelphia Eagles. There's there's no
31:30
doubts. Absolutely, Sometimes it's tough, sometimes it's not so tough. Yeah,
31:33
well, we're gonna get into some of those stories that you've been writing
31:36
about and but first, before that, and I wanted to dive into the
31:42
Eagles draft, in particularly their top two picks. From a defensive standpoint.
31:48
You know, it was an incredible draft for US Eagles fans, thinking,
31:52
my gosh, this team has two first round picks. They're not gonna have
31:56
to spend one on a quarterback this year, so they draft Jalen Carter and
32:00
Nolan Smith in the first round. And I think there's always expectations from Eagles
32:06
Nation, from this fan base about seeing top draft talent perform during their rookie
32:10
season. I don't know, we always think, Okay, these are these
32:13
top draft picks, they're gonna get in there and they're gonna be real difference
32:15
makers. Certainly doesn't happen all the time, but we've seen Nick Sirianni and
32:21
his coaching staff over the years here utilize rookies, I think, perhaps a
32:24
bit more than Doug Peterson did during his tenure. And I'm wondering what kind
32:30
of impact is Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith going to bring to the team right
32:34
out of the gate In the regular season. In your opinion, what are
32:36
your thoughts with regard to what these two gentlemen, these two rookies really are
32:38
gonna be able to do and if they're gonna be given the opportunities to do
32:40
anything, well, I think they'll be given the opportunities. You know,
32:45
last year we didn't see the rookies get on the field too much. With
32:50
Jordan Davis had you know, a nice run here and there, but then
32:52
that hurt and missed you know, four games. So you know, I
32:58
think he'll have a bigger impact. But if you look at the two picks
33:01
this year, Smith and Carter, I think Carter could start opposite Fletcher Cox
33:07
or start if they come out in a five five man front, which you
33:13
know they probably will do on occasion. But I certainly think, you know,
33:15
and he can move over or over the center as a nose guard if
33:20
you're going to go with three four. But listen, I think Jalen Carter.
33:22
And here's the good news is we're three weeks or so after the rota's
33:27
wrapped up and we still haven't heard anything about Jalen Carter. Like you know,
33:30
that was always the concern, was you hope that he can keep you
33:34
know, his the proverbial nose clean right, stay out of trouble. And
33:37
so far so good. I mean, we have ways to go here,
33:40
but this is the time we see players get into trouble. And with Jalen
33:45
Carter, so far so good. Because I think he'll I think he has
33:47
a chance, Jeff, to be the defensive rookie of the year. I
33:51
really do. I think, you know, the question's always been his his
33:54
character and his off the field stuff, and if the Eagles can somehow rain
34:00
ad in and keep him focused on the game, I think the sky's the
34:02
limit for this guy. So I think he's gonna start and listen Noland Smith,
34:07
I think, you know, we only saw the Eagles twice in OTA's
34:10
practice, for about an hour each time. But he really is an enthusiastic,
34:15
bubbly guy. He really likes to jump around while he's waiting his turn
34:17
to take a rap. I mean, his passion for the game is really
34:22
really high, great noticeable. Yeah, But I think to answer your question,
34:28
I think he's gonna he's gonna play some I mean, when you look
34:30
at the outside edge rushers, you know you have Reddick, you know your
34:34
defensive end is sweat. You have Brandon Graham, who's a twenty to twenty
34:37
five snap player, So yeah, I think Nold Smith, I think he's
34:40
gonna have a role, whether it's as a starter or you know, just
34:45
kind of coming in and playing thirty snaps. Yeah, I think he is.
34:47
And someone else too, I think is Sydney Brown. Their safety.
34:51
I think you're going to see a big role for him as well. I
34:53
think it was a really good draft pick in terms of talent. Not ready
34:58
to put a grade on it. Let's wait two three years down the line
35:00
and see how plays out. But you know, right now, sitting here
35:04
in the middle of June, I think Carter Smith and Brown are going to
35:07
have big, big impacts on this team in twenty twenty three. I would
35:10
love to see it. I would because I think, again going back to
35:15
the fact that as football fans, and it doesn't even matter what team you
35:19
follow, you just want to see the rookies really have that impact right out
35:22
of the gate because of what it could mean for the future, not just
35:24
for them, but for the team, for a specific unit. And I
35:29
can't wait to see what these guys are going to do. But ed I
35:30
wanted to move on to an article that you wrote recently, sticking with the
35:36
defensive side of things here with regard to cornerback James Bradberry, you know,
35:39
being that one year free agent that ended up getting his I think how you
35:44
said it in the article, his quote lottery deal from the team after having
35:47
that one year deal. And as we know, there are several Eagles players
35:51
and free agents on one year deals that we're going to be seeing coming into
35:54
this season. And in your article you essentially asked the question, you know,
35:58
who is going to be that next Eagles play to get that next big
36:00
deal from the front office? Who's on that one year contract? I mean,
36:04
personally, I could see a player like cornerback Greedy Williams getting a bigger
36:08
deal based on where the cornerback position will likely need to go in the future.
36:13
I believe you mentioned him in your article as well. So reflecting on
36:16
that article, what are your thoughts on that next one year contract player to
36:22
get that next big contract from Howie Roseman and the front office. Who do
36:25
you think that could potentially be? Well, you mentioned Greedy Williams. You
36:29
know, he's certainly a guy that could get that contract. He's got a
36:34
couple of things going for him. He's six two, right, he's a
36:36
talented player out of LSU, former second round pick. But you know,
36:39
those are good positive things. You know, he can play this game.
36:43
He can he knows how to line up on the outside. He's got good
36:45
size, he's young, he's twenty five. But injuries, you know,
36:51
he has to find a way to stay healthy. And maybe you know,
36:54
playing behind Slay and Bradbury will kind of help him in that regard. But
37:00
when you look at Slam Bradbury, right, they're both thirty plus. Now,
37:04
you know, even though they have these these longer term contracts, there's
37:08
a need for cornerbacks on this team. And I like Kiely Ringo that another
37:12
draft pick Howard Roseman and company had this past year out in the fourth round,
37:15
another big, rangy cornerback type. You know, we could see Williams
37:21
and Ringo kind of be in the future on the outside. If Williams comes
37:27
in and is able to make an impact, I don't know how much of
37:29
an opportunity he's going to have. I'd like to see the Eagles try to
37:31
manage slays snaps a little better. He admitted last year that's a long season.
37:36
At extra game, that seventeenth game, bringing the season to eighteen weeks.
37:40
That's a long long stretches and you know you can wear down if you're
37:45
on that other side of thirty and so I'd like to see the Eagles maybe
37:47
try to work in a greedy Williams, you know, give Slay a little
37:51
breather here and there during games. Give Williams a run, give Ringo a
37:54
shot, and maybe he can play himself into that next lottery winner like Bradbury
38:01
was. I also like DeAndre Swift. I know he wasn't signed as a
38:06
free agent on a one year deal, but he was brought in here in
38:09
a trade and he has one left on his deal. I know the Eagles
38:13
don't invest heavily at the running back position, but listen, Swift's a hometown
38:16
kid. They know this guy that he knows the Eagles. He could be
38:21
a guy that if he comes in and I think he's going to be the
38:24
lead back on this team. I think he's gonna be the bellcal I think
38:29
he could have a forty catch type of season with two hundred plus yards in
38:31
receiving and maybe a touchdown or two through the air. And I think,
38:36
you know, maybe an eight hundred to a thousand yard rushing season with five
38:39
six touchdowns there. If he has that kind of year, then yeah,
38:44
I think I'd give him a deal. But we've seen these running backs just
38:47
don't have that kind of value narely for teams anymore. So I don't know
38:52
what it would look like, but I think the Eagles would try to bring
38:54
Swift back on a longer term deal if he can pan out this season.
38:59
I mean, just look with Miles Sanders, you know, I I of
39:00
course don't know what your conversations are behind the scenes with some of your sources
39:05
team personnel that you've talked to, but my thinking was that, Okay,
39:09
Miles Sanders, excuse me, needed to do this, this and this in
39:14
order to get that long term deal with the Eagles. And quite frankly,
39:16
I thought he did this, this and this, and it didn't happen for
39:20
him. So I think to myself, man, what's it gonna take for
39:22
an Eagles running back to get that long term deal even if they're regardless of
39:28
if they're on a one year prove it deal. But if Miles Sanders wasn't
39:32
able to get it done with terms of long term deal in Philadelphia. I
39:37
don't know who can. I like what you're saying about DeAndre Swift. It
39:39
just I'm not sure if the front office, necessarily from a fan standpoint and
39:45
how I look at things, is really going to be investing that much down
39:47
the road in the running back position. Yeah. I think it was a
39:50
perfect storm with Sanders. The Eagles had so many they lost so many free
39:53
agents, they had so many holes to fill, and you know, they
39:58
just couldn't get to what Sanders wanted. Um. You know, but I
40:01
think that was not because of the season that he had or anything like that.
40:06
I just think it was the Eagles needed to spend money to bring back
40:09
some guys on defense. They lost a lot of pieces on this defense and
40:13
they needed to kind of spackle some holes there before turning to the offense.
40:16
They were fortunate to get Rashad Penny taking a you know, a low risk,
40:21
high reward type gamble and the guy that's been injured, and you know
40:24
it is trading for Swift. See my contenson would be Swift. They gave
40:29
up a fourth round pick for him, and I think twenty twenty five,
40:31
or maybe it's twenty twenty four, but they gave up a fourth round of
40:35
him. That's that's pretty good, you know, trade draft pick to be
40:39
giving up. So I think they could try to keep Swift. I don't
40:44
think they'll have as many free agents that they'll feel the need to bring back.
40:47
You know, we'll see where Kelsey, Graham and Cox are at this
40:51
point next year. But you know, I just think for Sanders, it
40:52
was kind of a perfect storm in terms of, yeah, he had a
40:54
good year, he did what he had to do, but there were just
40:57
so many other things that the Eagles had to prior Artis before turning their attention
41:01
to Sanders. And as it was, he was a three year, twenty
41:05
four million dollar deal for Caroline. I think it's eight million a year.
41:07
Yeah, that's a lot. It's a lot for a running deck. You
41:10
know, we see Dalvin Cook, he's still out on the market a free
41:13
agent. Now. These running decks just don't get what they had gotten in
41:16
the past, and you know, if that continues, then maybe the Eagles
41:20
can't keep Swift at a number that they're comfortable doing it. We see what
41:23
the value of the running back position has become, and that might actually be
41:28
of benefit to the Eagles and to this offense down the road for sure,
41:30
ed, but moving along here, you know, I've been thinking to myself
41:34
about the new coordinators who are really going to try to make their mark this
41:37
season as well, Sean Decay on the defensive side of the ball taking over
41:42
for Jonathan Gann and Brian Johnson taking over for Shane Steke and on the offensive
41:45
side of things. Working in conjunction with Nick Sirianni, what are your thoughts
41:50
on what we're going to be seeing from this season from both coordinators. I
41:53
mean, I know that you've talked on other podcasts about this extensively in the
41:58
past as well. It's actually something we haven't necessarily dove into too too much
42:01
here at the PST podcast. But let's start from the defensive side of things.
42:07
I mean, conventional wisdom and from what has been reported is that Sean
42:10
Desai is going to essentially run some of the same type of scheming that Jonathan
42:15
Gannon did. But every guy likes to make their own mark in terms of
42:19
what their unit is going to do in the field. So with Sean Desai,
42:22
you know, what are we gonna be seeing from him this season?
42:24
Yeah? You know, I think it's a very under the radar type of
42:28
a situation with two new coordinators. I think you know a reason. One
42:31
of the reasons for the Eagles success last year was the fact that they had
42:35
the same coaching staff brought back in place from year one of Nick Siriani to
42:39
year two, so there was a lot of familiarity. This year not so
42:44
much. You have two new coordinators, two big, high level positions the
42:46
coordinators. So you know, from de Sai, I think, listen,
42:51
you have to look at what Georgia did with Kirby Smart and his defensive coordinator
42:54
did too. I mean, yeah, he'll bring some elements of Gannon,
42:58
but I think you have to look at Georgia too. He's got five defensive
43:00
players from Georgia on his team. I mean, how can you not look
43:05
to see how Georgia deployed these players over the past two seasons. So you
43:08
know, I think you're going to see a lot of that. I think
43:10
you're gonna have Nakobe Dean kind of hiding back there as a linebacker like he
43:15
did at Georgia and making plays all over the place because Davis and Carter,
43:20
two huge bodies were in front of him. Yeah, so I think you
43:22
know you're gonna see some Georgia influence. We've seen the offensive side of the
43:29
ball for the Eagles kind of takes some concepts from college with the RPO stuff
43:32
and some of the other plays they run. They are heavily influenced by the
43:37
college game, and I think we might see some of that with Sean Desai.
43:39
So if you want to get an idea what the size is gonna do,
43:43
yeah, sure, Gannon, But I would also look at some tape
43:45
from the Georgia defense these past two years and see how they were used,
43:49
because he basically has the Georgia defense now. Yeah, yeah, why not?
43:52
It would be a smart move to look and see how they use these
43:57
guys. What about Brian Johnson here, it's going to be somewhat similar since
44:00
it is the quote Nick siri offense here that we have been witnessing over these
44:06
past couple of seasons. Is Brian Johnson going to be just kind of following
44:09
the lead of Nick Sirianni in your opinion, or is he gonna leave his
44:14
specific mark on this offense in some way, shape or form. Yeah,
44:17
you know, listen, this offense for the past what couple of years has
44:21
run through DeVante Smith, AJ Brown. I guess one year, but Smith,
44:24
Brown and Dallas Goddard. Those are your three statements and that that's not
44:28
going to change no matter who the offensive coordinator is. You know, we'll
44:34
see With Brian Johnson, obviously, him and Jalen Hurtzer, they go back
44:37
a long way. Johnson was a long time friend of the Hurts family.
44:42
Johnson played quarterback at a high level at the University of Utah. He was
44:45
a Sugar Bowl MVP when he beat the University of Alabama defeated that time,
44:50
and when he was the MVP of that Sugar Bowl. So you know,
44:52
he's played the game, he knows Hurts. He's been with this team now
44:55
for this will be his third year, so I think it's a good promotion
45:01
for him. I'm interested to see how he calls plays. Shane Steichen had
45:06
a real knack for it, a real feel as the game went on what
45:09
needed to be dialed up, what was working, what wasn't, what he
45:13
could try, And Johnson has said that's kind of a field thing. You
45:16
know, you kind of do a lot of that with your gut. He
45:21
was the offensive coordinator at the University of Florida before the Eagles hired him.
45:24
You know, he had Kyle Trask at quarterback who's now in Tampa Bay.
45:28
He had the receiver Kadarius Tony, who we saw at the Super Bowl kind
45:32
of ruined, you know, the Eagles dreams there touchdown. He utilized him.
45:37
So I like Johnson, I want to see how he calls plays and
45:40
listen, I'll say this, the Eagles didn't do a whole lot of work
45:44
in the spring. They only had six OTAs. They started their offseason program
45:47
a week later than most teams. Most teams started April seventeenth, the Eagles
45:52
waited an extra week to April twenty fourth. I would have kind of liked
45:54
to see them have a rookie mini or a mini camp, mandatory mini camp.
45:58
All thirty one teams one except the Eagles, so thirty one of the
46:01
thirty two teams. I would liked to have seen that, you know,
46:05
him kind of get that feel. You know, is he going to be
46:07
able to get that feel in such a short period of the spring is training
46:09
camp, you know, the six weeks are together at the end of summer,
46:14
is that going to be enough time for him to develop that feel?
46:15
To see, you know, different plays, what his guys can do and
46:20
can't do. Again, familiarity with the players will help, but again,
46:22
it's a feel thing and will he be able to put that feel together in
46:28
a relatively short amount of time. The one thing we talk about on this
46:30
podcast a decent amount in terms of professional athletes and their coaches or managers or
46:36
whoever it is, is that the relationship needs to be there. The relationship
46:39
needs to manifest over a period of time. And because Brian Johnson has been
46:44
with this organization for three years, I'm heartened by that fact from an offensive
46:47
standpoint that he does know a lot of these guys already, and then the
46:52
relationship is likely there already, but Sean decide it's going to take a little
46:57
bit of time. That's why I have that little bit more of a concern
47:00
about how he's going to be able to relate to these players that have tremendous
47:04
talent and upside that we're looking forward to seeing. So that's where I'm coming
47:08
from it, uh, from the standpoint of relationships are so important because if
47:14
relationships are good between coaches, coordinators and the players, you're gonna see I
47:20
think better results on the field itself, when they're actually performing their sport.
47:24
I don't know, those are those are my thoughts? Yeah, I mean
47:28
it's so true. You know, the relationship is the most important thing.
47:30
And you know, Dasiah is new, I mean Johnson, like you said,
47:34
it's been in the building for a few years now, but Dasiah is
47:37
new, and yep, you know, well, we'll see, I mean,
47:39
we'll see how that relationship is fostered with the players. I mean again
47:44
short spring. But the players, of course all when asked about him,
47:47
spoke highly. But what else are they going to say, is this guy
47:50
isn't so and you know, wish we still again and why didn't we hire
47:53
something? You know, but you know, so, you know, that's
47:58
just something we're gonna have to wait and see how it all plays out once
48:00
summer hit training camp pits, and then beyond, how that relationship is built,
48:06
if there's a trust, the mutual trust between player and Sean, and
48:10
see how it all unfolds. Absolutely well ed. Let's move over to the
48:15
offensive side of things here, because in another article you recently wrote, I
48:17
thought was really interesting you were talking about offensive lineman Cam Jurgens. He's the
48:22
favorite to start at right guard on the offensive line. That's what folks are
48:27
saying right now, and that's what we're thinking heading into this training camp into
48:30
this season. But look, Cam Jurgens, he is still an unproven player
48:36
in this league and on an offensive line that frankly remains a very dominant force
48:42
in the NFL. I think the concept and notion of just being able to
48:46
plug in a guy and because of the exceptional coaching of Jeff Stoutlin is just
48:52
going to be able to get in there and just get the job done,
48:54
and the line is going to remain a dominant force. And I thought it
48:59
was interesting in your article how you mentioned veteran offensive lineman Dalton Reisener. He's
49:05
still available, He's unsigned still this offseason, and I'm wondering, because there's
49:10
always some hiccup somewhere, like how cautious should we be of Cam Jurgen's right
49:15
out of the gate. And do you think the Eagles may actually try to
49:19
acquire a talent like Dalton Reisener as an insurance policy at some point this summer.
49:24
I don't know if the Eagles well, but I certainly would bring in
49:27
Dalton Reisener. I mean, they have fourteen million under the cap. You're
49:30
not going to pay him a lot of money. You're gonna give him a
49:32
one year contract. It's interesting that he still is a free agent. Maybe
49:37
there's a reason for it. I don't know. I don't know if there's
49:38
an injury involved, or you know, if there's some kind of you know,
49:43
I don't know. I don't, I don't Maybe a personal yeah,
49:45
I don't know. I've never met Dalton Reisener, don't know anything about him
49:50
other than you know what I've read. Former second round pick twenty seven years
49:53
old, played sixty two games all starts with the Broncos after he was drafted
49:59
in twenty nineteen. Yeah, to me, he makes sense. He's also
50:02
got good size. He's six five three fifteen. You know, the knock
50:07
on cam has been okay, he's never played guard before. Okay, he
50:10
was a tight end that when he came into Nebraska and they moved to the
50:14
center, and he's been a center his whole life. So now he's learning
50:16
a new position. That's first of all. Second of all, he's not
50:22
real big. I mean he's six three, three hundred pounds. You know,
50:25
you look at the guards Eagles have used in the past with Landon Dickerson
50:30
now six six three thirty three, thirty ish, Brandon Brooks six five three
50:35
thirty five, big guys. The last time that they started a guard who
50:39
was sixty three or less was in two thousand and nine when they had Max
50:44
gene Gillis on that two and nine NFC team that went to the NFC Title
50:49
Game and lost to the Cardinals. But that was the last time, and
50:52
he was about three three thirty so even though he was sixty three, he
50:55
still had a lot of weight. Now, Jurgons when we talked to him
50:59
this spring, said you know, listen, I'm hoping to get up to
51:01
I'm up close to three oh five. I'm hoping to get up to three
51:05
to ten. I think I can hold weight on because players tend to lose
51:07
weight as the season goes along. I don't know, I listen. I
51:14
know the Eagles want to get something out of him because he was a second
51:16
round pick last year and he had the red shirt ears sitting behind Kelsey.
51:20
But if you invest that high of a pick, I think you want to
51:22
start seeing a little bit of a return. Yeah, that kind of investment,
51:27
and maybe That's why they think, all right, let's let him give
51:29
it a shot. But listen, it can't hurt to bring in Reisener.
51:32
You can cut them, you know Howie Roseman brought in Jakwaski Tart at safety
51:37
in the middle of June last year kind of hit his bets at safety,
51:40
and then they went and they got Tauncey Gardner Johnson in a trade at the
51:44
end of August. So Tart didn't make the team. But you know,
51:47
I don't see any farm in bringing in a veteran like Reisener and let them,
51:53
you know, throw him out there. And Jurgen's is better than you
51:57
cut Reisener if you want to, because I don't think they drafted Tyler Steen
52:00
guard tackle third round. But this is a team with Super Bowl hopes.
52:06
I don't think you want to have a rookie playing an important position on the
52:09
offensive line. Keeping Jay when hurts healthy is your number one priority, and
52:13
I'm not sure they're ready to turn that over to just a rookie, uh
52:16
you know, who still has some growing to do. Yeah, So I
52:21
see no downside to bring it in Riisener. I'm surprised that hasn't happened.
52:23
Maybe at some point, Well, you know what's gonna happen, Jeff is,
52:25
you're gonna put this podcast out and it's gonna it's gonna hit the Spotify
52:30
and everywhere, and we're gonna sign Reisener and we'll be like, oh man,
52:35
why couldn't they do that twenty four hours ago? So it always happens,
52:38
doesn't It never fails, Yeah, never fails. Always happens. But
52:43
you record the content, you get everything edited, and then a day later,
52:46
or even half an hour later, they're making some sort of announcement.
52:51
The podcast gods at times are against us. Absolutely well ed. Moving along
52:57
here. You know something something that you and I had talked about last year.
53:00
I think I asked you this. We had a conversation about it before
53:04
the start of the twenty twenty two season, you know, dealt with Jalen
53:07
Hurts and those expectations from US fans, and the expectation now for Jalen Hurts
53:15
is absolutely off the charts, of course, and probably rightfully so. You
53:19
know, he helped get him to the Super Bowl. He gets one of
53:22
the top NFL contracts in the history of the game. During the course of
53:24
this offseason, you know, last year, ED, when we talked about
53:28
Hurts, it was a well, let's wait and see type of an approach
53:31
here about what was going to happen with the quarterback position, what was going
53:35
to happen with regard to his development. We were both a little skeptical about
53:38
where he could actually take this football team. Now things are completely different.
53:43
I mean, there was a fantastic season from him. So where should our
53:46
realistic expectations, our logical expectations be for Jalen Hurts as this season is right
53:53
around the corner, as we're looking toward this twenty twenty three season and even
53:58
beyond. Yeah, you know, I can't remember a player who has taken
54:02
a bigger step from you know, year one as a starter two year two.
54:07
I really, you know, he really set a high bar here.
54:12
And now you throw in that that contract two hundred and fifty five million,
54:16
I just don't, you know. I just hope fans understand. Listen,
54:20
he's still a twenty four year old kid who is still trying to improve.
54:25
Now what that improvement looks like, I don't know. I mean, we
54:29
saw him go from sixty one percent to sixty seven or so percent completion percentage
54:32
last year, I mean, ran for thirteen touchdowns, first quarterback to ever
54:37
rush for back to back double digit touchdowns in two seasons. So I just
54:45
don't know. I mean, yeah, maybe you could throw a few more
54:46
touchdown passes. I think he had twenty two. But listen, if you're
54:51
running for thirteen, that's thirty five touchdowns you're accounting for between your arm and
54:55
your leg. I mean, that's pretty darn good. Maybe you get Yeah,
55:00
it is amazing, So listen. I I just hope, like I
55:05
said, fans understand that. You know, hey, he's still a growing
55:07
quarterback here and twenty four years old, and he's got pieces around him.
55:12
I seem to sense the Eagles are trying to let him make quicker decisions in
55:15
the pocket. You know, they would like to see him maybe get rid
55:19
of the ball a little quicker, try to preserve some of that wear and
55:23
tear that he takes through the course of a season. Because there's one thing
55:27
we haven't seen from jail and as him playing every single regular season game yet.
55:30
He got hurt his first year as a starter. He got hurt last
55:34
year, didn't miss you know, more than a handful of games, but
55:37
still you hope that that big injury isn't gonna happen at some point because they
55:43
wear and tear. So I seen the Eagles try to maybe make him more
55:45
of a pocket guy, quicker decisions, stay in the pocket, get rid
55:49
of the ball as quickly as you can instead of trying to read through all
55:52
your different progressions and then taken off running. Because we want to preserve you
55:55
for a seventeen game season and beyond. So yeah, I expectations. You
56:01
hope he can put together the same kind of year last year. Maybe hiked
56:05
the touchdowns up to maybe forty um, but it was pretty good year.
56:12
Yea. Yeah, I just don't know how. I don't know. I
56:15
don't know how you be a build on that. You went to the Super
56:17
Bowl, you're the MVP runner up, you know. And again, I
56:22
just hope fans understand, like, if he doesn't have that kind of season,
56:24
then they're still winning games. It's okay, you know, take a
56:29
breath. He's a good quarterback. He's you know, he's got this thirst,
56:32
this unquenchable desire to be great, and that's not going to go away.
56:37
And it's it's one of the most important aspects of development when you're talking
56:39
about young quarterbacks like him, Like you said, Ed, only twenty four
56:44
years old, and he still has the ability to improve within the game itself,
56:50
and how that manifests itself is going to be very very interesting. Again,
56:52
folks, we're talking to Ed Kratz. He's the publisher of Eagles Today
56:57
for fan Nation over at SI. Follow him on Twitter at kratsy. He
57:00
is a great, great follow always producing great, great content. And to
57:05
close us out here, Ed, you know you recently penned an article.
57:07
I'd love how you say, penned an article like we're back in the like
57:10
the eighties or nineties. You pend an article, Ed, Oh, yeah,
57:15
yeah, I'm sure I'm going to hear from some of our listeners after
57:17
that one. But in terms of it, yeah, typed an article with
57:22
the old type exactly. Yes. But an article that you recently wrote was
57:28
about how the NFC East Division hasn't you know, and we know this,
57:31
they haven't had a repeat winner in twenty years and the Eagles were actually the
57:35
last team to do it back from two thousand and one to two thousand and
57:37
four, and Super Bowl teams, as we know, usually kind of take
57:42
that step back from a historical perspective, when you look at teams that have
57:45
gotten to the Super Bowl, whether they win or whether they lose, you
57:49
know, some teams just take that step back. So do you think the
57:52
Eagles can buck that trend, that twenty year trend and repeat as NFC East
57:59
champs? And uh, I don't know, do you think do you think
58:01
do you think they can do it this coming year? Well, you know,
58:06
there's so many factors that you know, you need to stay healthy,
58:08
right and the Eagles basically, you know, they're they're wide receivers Brown and
58:13
Smith. They stayed healthy all year. Hurts missed the two games, like
58:15
I mentioned, they kind of you know, finished the season with a shoulder
58:20
a little banged up. But for the most part, they were relatively healthy.
58:22
They didn't have any crushing series season ending injuries. And you hope that
58:28
they stay the same way and they stay healthy and they keep their key players
58:34
out there and that offensive line together. I know Lane Johnson got you know,
58:37
you had the abductor tear as you know, late in the season.
58:40
But you know, you hope that they can stay healthy and not lose too
58:45
many guys got key positions because that would just derail you if that happens.
58:50
Really, I mean, you can have all the depth in the world,
58:52
but if your your number ones aren't out there a few of them, it's
58:55
going to be a struggle. Um. But they have the roster in place,
59:00
so certainly on paper, they look like, you know, a team
59:01
that could get back there. Again. The NFC is no world beat or
59:05
there's really no you know, there's a couple of good teams, but it's
59:07
not like the AFC where you have five or six teams that could get the
59:10
job done. In the NFC, have the Eagles, the Cowboys that put
59:14
in there, the forty nine ers, a lot of love being shown to
59:17
the Lions, you know, if they're ready, maybe the Saints. There
59:21
a lot of maybes. Yeah, I mean there's three teams that there's no
59:24
maybes. Eagles, Cowboys, forty nine Ers. They're the best teams and
59:30
so it's not like a you know, a murderer's road to get through here.
59:34
So we'll see. And another thing I like is they really do seem
59:37
to want to win the Super Bowl. I mean, they were stung when
59:40
they lost last year and they all talked about rededicating themselves to get back to
59:45
that goal. But you know, listen, that's a lot easier said than
59:50
done. We saw the Bank after they made the Super Bowl. They struggled
59:52
early in the season. Last year they finally righted it and got to the
59:55
AFC Title game again. But it's not easy. You know, the Rams
1:00:00
struggled to do it after they won the Super Bowl. It's just, you
1:00:02
know, it's a hard thing to do to play with that level of intensity
1:00:07
week in and week out, especially when you're you're starting a season in September
1:00:10
and you know you're going to be playing through the middle of January. You
1:00:14
know, every week you can't be at the same focus level or same dedication
1:00:21
level. I mean, there's a drop off and it's gonna be hard.
1:00:23
I Mean people seem to think, oh, we're gonna go right back,
1:00:27
but I'm telling you it's not hard. Look at the Phillies, Jeff Right,
1:00:30
you know, everybody thought, what a great team on paper. Maybe
1:00:34
they need more pitching. You can say the same with the Eagles. Maybe
1:00:37
they need more linebacker help. You know, maybe they need a right guard
1:00:40
solution that you're happy with. There's always some maybes in there, and you
1:00:45
know, with the Phillies' they're kind of turning the corner. But it wasn't
1:00:49
as easy as everybody thought. Everybody thought they'd come out and you know,
1:00:52
get back to the World series not easy. Same thing with the Eagles.
1:00:55
It's just not easy to do. It's something that I think expectation wise,
1:01:00
Eagles Nation, we gotta keep it tempered, folks, gotta keep it tempered.
1:01:05
And in the meantime, you gotta head on over and follow ed on
1:01:07
Twitter at Kratzy. He's a great, great follow he's posting all of his
1:01:10
content up there. Ed, thank you so very much for joining us on
1:01:15
this particular episode. Man, it was great to see you, great to
1:01:17
talk to you. Come back and join us down the road again, my
1:01:20
friend. Always a pleasure listen. I'll say this to Eagles fans, first
1:01:23
of all, enjoy the journey. Yeah, out of where it ends up,
1:01:25
enjoy the journey the week the week journey, and enjoy your summer and
1:01:30
we'll see where this all starts at the end of July. It is always
1:01:35
a great time talking to Ed, and I do want to reflect on the
1:01:38
Jalen Hurts aspect of our conversation because I think going into this twenty twenty three
1:01:44
season, Folks are going to immediately think, Okay, Jalen Hurts, He's
1:01:46
just gonna be the same type of quarterback. He's gonna do the same exact
1:01:49
things. You know what. He's going to have thirteen rushing touchdowns, he's
1:01:53
gonna have seven hundred and sixty yards on the ground. He's gonna be able
1:01:58
to have, you know, perhaps over eight hundred yards on the ground this
1:02:01
year. I don't know, folks, I'm not sure about that. You
1:02:05
know, he averaged four point six yards per carry last year. I don't
1:02:08
know if I want my quarterback doing that as much anymore. I would rather,
1:02:12
as Ed said, have him develop more of his game from the pocket,
1:02:15
those quick releases, quick passes out to some amazing wide receivers and receivers
1:02:21
in general in Dallas Goddard, AJ Brown and DeVante Smith. Having him develop
1:02:25
into that type of quarterback more so than just being on the run consistently.
1:02:31
Look, he's got forty two rushing touchdowns during his three year NFL career.
1:02:37
That is absolutely incredible. I love it. I love seeing it. I
1:02:42
love the excitement when I'm watching on my television screen what he is doing on
1:02:45
the field with his legs, but I want him to hold up, folks.
1:02:50
He is a great quarterback in this league. He is going to continue
1:02:52
to be a great quarterback in this league if he is healthy. That is
1:02:58
the most important aspect of Jen Hurts heading into this season. Yes, it's
1:03:02
him being accurate, Yes it's him understanding his reads. Yes it's him being
1:03:07
able to get rid of the ball quickly. It's so many things, but
1:03:10
his health is the most imperative. And yes it may sound obvious. It
1:03:15
may sound obvious for sure, but we cannot lose sight of that. We
1:03:20
cannot lose sight of the fact that, you know what, this offense may
1:03:22
look a little bit different every now and then. We've got new running backs
1:03:27
into the mix here as well. What happens to the running game? What
1:03:30
happens to this Eagles running game if Jalen Hurts does decide or if it's by
1:03:37
injury, needs to take a step back from what he has done on the
1:03:40
ground. So a storyline certainly we're all going to be following and watching closely.
1:03:45
Is the preseason in training camp is right around the corner. Man.
1:03:51
This regular season is going to be fantastic. Eagles have a tough, tough
1:03:54
schedule as we all know. But look, folks, we're gonna be here
1:03:59
talking about it here on the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show for some time in
1:04:02
the future for sure, and I can't wait to get back to our Eagles
1:04:05
postgame shows. So that being said, folks, take care, we're gonna
1:04:10
end this show this week. Subscribe on whatever podcast platform you are on.
1:04:14
We'd love a follow on Apple Podcasts as well as a rate and review,
1:04:17
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1:04:20
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1:04:24
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1:04:34
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